[NLRS] Shoosh! Midwest Mania! is history and was a blast.

[James Duffey]

I had a great time in MidwestMania!, and it is nice to rove outside  
one's home turf. While the mountains in NM are nice to operate from  
for DX, they also get in the way for long troposcatter contacts.

I operated from 18 grids and made 160 contacts. In contrast in last  
years September contest I made less than half that many contacts out  
here. There was always activity, something unusual here where it comes  
in bursts.

I worked W9FZ/R from several grids, I need to check the log and do the  
arithmetic to see the longest distance we covered. N0LL was worked  
from lots of grids and I worked KB0HH from 14 or 15 grids, including  
DM74, a 377 mile QSO! I also made a CW QSO with W0EEA from DM96,  
another 300 mile + QSO.

My 1296 setup appears to be suboptimum and I am inexperienced on that  
band, so I did not get the benefit from that I should have.

OK, I am hooked on midwest roving. I will try to arrange my summer  
around RoverMania next year. - Duffey

--
KK6MC
James Duffey
Cedar Crest NM